On January 11, 2019, Twitch streamer Sick_Nerd was playing Old School RuneScape live when he received a donation of 20 bitcoin (BTC). Contemporary reports valued it at more than $70,000. The donor appeared under the account name “lightpuma,” and no source established who that person was or whether the gift was legitimate.
What happened on January 11, 2019
Sick_Nerd, a Twitch streamer, was broadcasting Old School RuneScape when the donation arrived. CryptoSlate reported the gift as an anonymous bitcoin donation and reproduced a post in which the streamer thanked the benefactor. TechJuice also reproduced that post and added the donor’s account name. Both reports date the event to January 11, 2019, and every figure in this article should be read as a snapshot of that date.
How much the 20 BTC was worth
The total reported in every account is 20 BTC. The dollar and euro figures differ because each outlet used a different bitcoin price. They describe the same coins, not different donations. The table below lists the estimates as published.
| Source (2019 coverage) | Valuation given | Price per BTC implied or stated |
|---|---|---|
| CryptoSlate | Total above $70,000 | Approximately $3,700 per BTC (stated) |
| TechJuice | €61,687.42 ($70,780.20) | About $3,539 per BTC (calculated from the stated dollar total) |
| WhalePanda, quoted by BeInCrypto | $74k | About $3,700 per BTC (calculated from the stated total) |
None of these figures is a current value. Bitcoin’s price moves continuously, so the worth of 20 BTC today depends on the market when you check it, and this article does not provide a current price.
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How the 20 BTC arrived
BeInCrypto, reporting on January 15, 2019, said the 20 BTC came in five separate transfers of four BTC each. It said the full amount was sent over less than two and a half hours. That pattern is the detail that later drew attention, because a single large transfer and a series of smaller, closely spaced ones look different on a blockchain. BeInCrypto’s account is a secondary report; the individual transaction records were not published alongside it in the coverage reviewed.
The streamer’s reaction
TechJuice reported that Sick_Nerd first assumed the donation was a prank before he expressed gratitude on stream. His post, as reproduced by CryptoSlate, reads:
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“Thank you to my mysteriously benefactor whoever you are, genuinely a life changing amount of money that I or nobody deserves but look what happened.”
The wording is quoted exactly as published, including the apparent typo.
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Who was the donor?
TechJuice identified the donor only by the account name “lightpuma.” CryptoSlate described the donor as anonymous. Neither outlet verified that the account name belonged to a particular person, and no later source in the coverage reviewed established the donor’s real identity. Treat “lightpuma” as a username, not as a confirmed name.
Was the donation real?
The question of legitimacy was raised at the time, but it was never resolved. BeInCrypto compared the transfers with an earlier, unrelated case and said there was too little information to decide whether lightpuma’s actions were legitimate.
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The earlier PayPal case BeInCrypto cited
In 2016, a donor sent payments through PayPal in a situation that was later described as a donation scam. The donor later tried to reverse the payments, and the refund was refused. That earlier case involved different payments and different people. It is cited only to explain why the transfer pattern prompted caution, not as evidence about the 2019 donation.
What the 2019 coverage does not show
- It does not show that the donor was identified or that the donor’s intentions were known.
- It does not show that the streamer kept all 20 BTC.
- It does not show that blockchain transactions being irreversible proved the donor was trustworthy.
Commentary on handling the coins
BeInCrypto quoted crypto commentator WhalePanda, who wrote: “Someone donated 20 btc ($74k) to a twitch streamer to keep streaming. I would run them a few times through wasabi wallet before using them or sending them to an exchange…” This is one commentator’s advice about privacy and handling after receiving coins. It is not a finding that the coins were tainted or that any party acted unlawfully.
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Why the story still matters
The main lesson from the event is the gap between how large a crypto gift looks and how little its source can be checked. A tip of this size arrives instantly, can be sent in pieces, and can be fully anonymous. Any recipient of an unexpected sum, whether in crypto or not, faces the same underlying question of where the money came from before deciding how to use it.
The record of this specific case is limited to a handful of 2019 reports from secondary outlets. Anyone looking for a verified account of the donation, the donor, or the streamer’s later finances will not find it in the coverage cited here.
The reports and quotes above are as published in January 2019. The dollar valuations are historical estimates, not present-day values.
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